Archive for September, 2017

As of Sunday afternoon, Hurricane Jose is not expected to have a major impact on the Hampton Roads area. However, some stronger winds and maybe some showers/rain on the storm’s western edge may affect parts of the region. High waves, rip tides will be the major impacts of this storm. Late Monday night and Tuesday morning should be when Maria is closest to the area as it moves northward well offshore. Parts of Long Island and Southeastern New England need to keep a very close eye on this storm.

Tropical Storm Maria is one system to watch as it heads into the Leeward Islands this week. It is expected to strengthen into a hurricane and it could become a major hurricane in a few days. This could be a very serious situation since some of these islands were devastated by Hurricane Irma. It may impact the U.S., but it is way too early to make any predictions. It all depends how Jose affects the western portion of the large high pressure system that is steering the storm to the north. It is very possible that Maria could turn north after it passes through the Leeward Islands. However, it could just as easily continue west-northwest just north of the Dominican Republic and that would be an ominous track, especially after following on the heels of Hurricane Irma. And of course, if it makes a direct hit on this mountainous island, the storm will weaken. A weaker storm normally moves more westward that an intense hurricane in this part of the world.

As Harvey’s remnant moisture gets spread out and contributes to a wet start to the Labor Day weekend for many folks in the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern States, the attention now turns to Hurricane Irma, which is now moving westward through the Central North Atlantic Ocean. More on that later… First let’s discuss the weekend forecast. Folks here in Hampton Roads are waking up this Saturday morning to cloudy and gloomy conditions. This is due to a warm front slowly approaching from the south combined with tropical moisture brought up by Harvey. Harvey’s remnants got very spread out and the system is nothing like it once was as a prolific rainfall producer. As you probably know, it brought more than a year’s worth of rainfall to parts of Texas and broke many all-time rainfall records. The Hampton Roads area will have a chance of showers and storms today, some of which can be strong to severe. Conditions should improve tonight and we should have nice weather the remainder of the weekend. Temperatures should be in the low to mid 80’s Sunday and Monday. The nice weather will most likely come to an end by mid-week as what could be a very wet frontal system moves into the region. Heavy rain is possible at that time.

Hurricane Irma is now a category 2 storm and it may increase in strength as it moves west and then west-southwest over the next few days. Intensity forecasts aren’t very accurate but it could grow to a category 4 storm and even beyond that, conditions permitting. Computer models seem to be in agreement that this hurricane may track towards the East Coast of the United States in about 7 to 10 days. However, predicting steering currents out that far is very difficult so pinpointing exactly where this storm will be is nearly impossible. Some models place the hurricane off the Southeast Coast while others have it further north off the Northeastern coastline. After taking this unusual track west-southwestward, it is expected to turn to the west-northwestward. The position and strength of the Bermuda High to the storm’s north will determine the track of this storm for the next several days. Could it be steered out to sea? Possibly, but it’s way too early to tell. In the meantime, please ensure that you have all of your hurricane related supplies on-hand. And, of course, you should monitor this storm closely.